Hanky Dress Tutorial!

For my recent Patsy doll restoration,

I made this little hanky dress.

I promised I'd do a tutorial.

HERE IT IS!

I wanted to make three sizes, so I chose

for my models, Patsy Joan (Charlotte) who is 17",

Patsy (Daisy) who is 13" and 

Patsyette (Helena) who is 9".

I have a box of old hankys that I have kept, thinking

I would make them into something.

You may have noticed Helena

already has a hanky dress. 

This was done using a pattern.

For today's tutorial we won't use a pattern.

I found out all my hankys are different sizes.

The largest I had was 15".  

The other two sizes are 12" and 10".

The 15" hanky will be the front of Patsy Joan's dress. 

Larger dolls will need 2 hankys, or a hanky and

coordinating fabric for the back.

This hanky has a tear, so it is a perfect candidate.

For our tutorial today I will be using

Helena as my primary model.

I chose a smaller 10" hanky for Helena.

Folded in half the hanky should 

reach your doll's knees.

Cut a slit up the center in back.

At the top cut out to within an 

inch and a half of the edge to create 

the sleeve. This will be our neckline.

For a larger dolls increase the inches

 for the sleeve.

Your Hanky should look like this.

From the left back start sewing a 

small shirt-tail hem all around the neckline.

Sew all around the neckline you have cut.

This thin point, I will  reinforce 

with fray check.

You should end up with this.

Next I set my machine on a long stitch and sew

around the neckline AGAIN for gathering.

Be sure this stitch is not too deep.

I used the inside edge of my presser

foot for a good stitch depth.

Gather by pulling one thread and slowly scrunching

fabric into gathers all around the neckline.

When the collar is gathered you should 

have something like this.

At this point the back is open.

I laid Helena next to her dress

The back will be closed to the 

height of her hip.

I did another shirt-tail hem about 2/3rds

down on each side.  Then I closed

the back from the bottom hem up.

I started out closing the side seam like this,

BUT, I didn't like it, so I tore it out 

and did a normal side seam.

These 1930s doll dresses were closed with a

little safety pin.  I am dong the same 

with these hanky dresses.

Back to Charlotte's dress.  Since this dress needs 2

hankys I did it a little different.

I chose a coordinating hanky for Charlotte's dress.

Both hankys were trimmed to the right length and

hemmed along the top. I used a small zig-zag

stitch to join the 2 hankys at the shoulder. 

The rest of this dress was done just the same.

NOTE: I was making this up as I went along.

If I did this again, I would hem the 2 hankys 

together normally and then do the shirt-tail hem

around the neckline.

Here are the finished dresses

Helena

Daisy

AND....

Charlotte.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!